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Bengali Muslims and Islamization: Pity the indigenous of Assam, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and Rakhine

Bengali Muslims and Islamization: Pity the indigenous of Assam, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and Rakhine

Sawako Utsumi and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

The international media is negating the serious issue of Bengali Muslims overwhelming the indigenous in Assam (India), the Chittagong Hill Tracts (Bangladesh), Rakhine (Myanmar), and other areas. Indeed, it appears that Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, and Tribals don’t even enter the equation. Similarly, the Pope and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are blinded by their own respective agendas. Hence, the indigenous remain voiceless and at the mercy of endless Bengali Muslim migration, a land grab, and Islamization by stealth.

It is abundantly clear that the governments of Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar must protect the indigenous of Assam, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Rakhine, and other areas blighted by mass migration. Yet, it seems that the central government of India is failing the indigenous of Assam and this applies to decades of neglect and endless Bengali Muslim migration that is altering the cultural landscape. In the opposite direction, the government of Myanmar seeks to protect the indigenous Buddhists and Tribal Groups of Rakhine – while also protecting Hindus from Islamist terrorists belonging to ARSA (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army).

Of course, for Muslim majority Bangladesh the situation is different. Hence, this nation facilitated Bengali Muslim settlements of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the knowledge of Islamization by stealth. In other words, Bengali Muslim settlements were aimed at crushing the indigenous Buddhists and Hindus (some are Christian) of the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Therefore, India and Myanmar should put collective pressure on Bangladesh to re-take Bengali Muslims who left their native country, while raising the issue of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in order to help the indigenous of this region.

Similarly, India and Myanmar should forge closer border policies in order to stem the tide of mass Bengali Muslim migration. Equally, just like China and the Russian Federation are preventing the diktats of the OIC, it is incumbent that India supports Myanmar over events in Rakhine. After all, India knows full well about Islamization by stealth, Sunni Islamist terrorism, and Bengali Muslim land grabs against the indigenous of Assam – and other areas of India.

The BBC reports, “Changing demography, loss of land and livelihood and intensified competition for political power has added a deadly potency to the issue of who has a right to Assam.”

Of course, Bengali Hindus have fled Bangladesh and relocated to India. Yet, this issue is entirely different because countless massacres took place against Hindus during the eventual creation of Bangladesh in 1971. Hence, Hindus were forced to flee from the deeds of Muslims based on enormous atrocities committed against them. Equally, the ongoing Islamization of Bangladesh is continuing based on the decreasing Hindu population in percentage terms. Likewise, with the Chittagong Hill Tracts being Islamized by stealth due to Bengali Muslim migration, then Hindus fully understand the future reality of this nation.

Modern Tokyo Times says, “The reality of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh where Buddhists are increasingly marginalized based on endless Bengali Muslim settlements, is a fear held within certain Buddhist circles who worry about Islamization in parts of Myanmar. Indeed, the Buddhist and the tribal majority in the Chittagong Hill Tracts is being supplanted rapidly. Of course, for Buddhists and Hindus, they only have to look at the reality of modern-day Pakistan and what happened after many Islamic invasions of Afghanistan. Therefore, the British and Islamic role in cutting up mother India, the murky reality of the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh, the British policy of settling mainly Bengali Muslim immigrants to Myanmar (Burma), and the silence of successive British governments to the erosion of Hinduism in Bangladesh and Pakistan is all too clear.”

In Rakhine, the government of Myanmar faces Islamization by stealth based on endless Bengali Muslim migration. Interestingly, the armed forces of Myanmar are protecting mainly Buddhist indigenous groups and Bengali Hindus in Rakhine from the ARSA Islamist threat. In other words, the indigenous of Rakhine fear Islamization and a Bengali Muslim land grab similarly to what is happening in Assam, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and other areas. Therefore, in parts of Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar the threat of Islamization and a Bengali Muslim land grab is all too real.

In another article by Modern Tokyo Times, it was stated, “The government of Myanmar faces untold pressure to accept Bengali Muslims back into Rakhine in Myanmar because of the utter bias of certain Western and Islamic nations. Yet, if Myanmar is pressured then Buddhists, Hindus, and Tribal people have much to fear in Rakhine. This is based on Islamic terrorism and institutional religious hatred emanating from Sharia Islamic law that seeks to crush non-Muslims in this part of Myanmar. Similarly, when the demographic time bomb reaches majority status in Rakhine then will the same pressures emerge in another part of Myanmar based on Islamization?”

In the Chittagong Hill Tracts, endless Bengali Muslim settlements and the role of the armed forces of Bangladesh have been alarming. Al Jazeera reports, “Indigenous demands for autonomy remain unheeded. And the Hill Tracts remain the most highly militarized region in Bangladesh. Drive around and it feels like an occupation, even if it isn’t being called one.”

If indigenous groups in Assam (and other areas of India), the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and Rakhine aren’t protected then indigenous culture and faiths will be crushed by Islamization. Hence, it is high time that the Bengali Muslim angle is recognized and for various indigenous groups to be given international support – rather than the fake narrative aimed at Myanmar. Therefore, Bangladesh must be singled out by India and Myanmar. Also, the international community needs to recognize the geopolitical and religious angle that is enabling a Bengali Muslim land grab in Assam, the Chittagong Hill Tracts, and Rakhine to take place.